


he's my only friend

by DeadlyHuggles



Series: mcyt oneshots (or multishots, i'm bad at being consistent) [7]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Manipulation, Techno traded Tommy away as a favor to Dream :), don't expect actual content of that ship, don't worry Tommy is fine, dream is not homeless, he just lives very far away, sam nook and the badlands rescued him, the badlands are over their egg thing, the fundywastaken tag is just cause fundy was refered to as Dream's fiance once, there is nothing more unsettling than having to type in skeppy and bad's real names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28939806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyHuggles/pseuds/DeadlyHuggles
Summary: Techno owed Dream a favorDream wanted Tommy.Techno offered.Dream acceptedAnd as it turns out, Dream did have a house. one so far away no one would ever find it.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Floris | Fundy, Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/Floris | Fundy, Floris | Fundy & TommyInnit, Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Sam | Awesamdude & TommyInnit, Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: mcyt oneshots (or multishots, i'm bad at being consistent) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044822
Comments: 27
Kudos: 653
Collections: Completed stories I've read, Found family to make me feel something





	1. Chapter 1

Tommy wrapped his arms around his body, shaking a bit. It was so cold.

He and Techno were supposed to be a team. They were supposed to help each other. He had just gone with Techno to New L'manburg to get his items, the place he wasn't supposed to be. And they got caught. By Dream.

The whole conversation was a blur. Dream wanted him, and Techno owed Dream a favor. A favor Dream was willing to use to get him. So Techno gave him up.

Tommy shivered. Dream had stripped him of his blue coat the moment they entered the nether, throwing it in one of the lava lakes. Tommy did nothing to fight, already falling back into the mindset he had in Logstedshire. But now they were out of the nether, and he was so cold.

They had been in the nether for a while, nearly an entire day of walking. Tommy usually liked the nether, even with all the hostile mobs, but being in it for so long just walking with no rest was awful. He didn’t even know where Dream was leading him. Tommy had tried asking, but Dream had just yelled at him to shut up. Dream obviously knew where they were going though, following some unmarked path Tommy couldn’t see.

He stumbled, thankful yet again for the long sleeve shirt Techno had forced him to put on under his red and white t-shirt. It was probably the only thing keeping him from getting frostbite at this point. What was it with his friends and living in snowy places? First Techno and now… Tommy almost fell over again when he realized he had referred to Dream as his friend. No, he couldn’t think like that, he couldn’t fall into that rabbit hole of believing that staying with Dream was best. He’d escape again, he had to. Dream couldn’t keep him forever.

Dream yanked him up after he nearly fell into the snow banks again, "C'mon Tommy it's only a little further. Stop falling over."

"It's cold…" he murmured, the chattering of his teeth making his words nearly incomprehensible.

"Oh shut up, it's not that cold. But if you really need it, you can borrow a blanket once we get home."

Tommy nodded but was otherwise silent until Dream shot him an expectant look and he remembered his manners, "Thank you Dream."

Dream smiled behind his mask, "of course Tommy, that's what good friends do!"

_ Friends… _ The word made Tommy cringe. Dream had said they were friends, but Dream hurt him and was kidnapping him right now.

“If we’re friends, why are you kidnapping me?” Tommy asked, getting ready to fight Dream verbally.

Dream turned to Tommy in mock-shock and laughed, “kidnapping you? What are you even talking about Tommy, I’m not kidnapping you! You came with me willingly! You didn’t fight me at all and I even got your brother’s permission!”

“Oh…” Tommy said, the fight draining out of him. That’s right, Techno had given him to Dream. His brother trusted Dream enough to give him up to repay a favor, maybe this wouldn’t be that bad.

Tommy didn’t know, but he was wrong. Things were going to get much, much worse.

~

Dream towered over Tommy.

Tommy was on the ground, on his knees, with tears streaming down his face. A broken bow sat beside him.

Dream had been trying to teach him how to shoot his bow well and aim properly, at the little archer range attached to his house. Things had been going well for a while, but eventually Tommy had gotten frustrated with his inability to hit the bullseye like Dream. He’d thrown his bow at the ground and the notch that held the string in place had splintered off and broken.

“What the hell Tommy! Who do you think you are?! I go through the trouble of trying to teach you how to fight properly so that you can defend yourself and you break my stuff?! It’s no wonder everyone abandoned you, if this is how you treat your friends’ things!”

Tommy whimpered, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to, I'll fix it, I promise I'll fix it for you, I'm sorry Dream!”

“Are you?” Dream asked, seemingly towering even further over Tommy, “Are you really sorry? Because you don’t seem that sorry. You sound like you’re just trying to get out of punishment.”

“No I’m not! I swear, I’m sorry! I’ll fix it, I promise!” Tommy cried.

Dream rolled his eyes and took a step forward, grabbing to the broken bow, then Tommy’s hair with his other hand, yanking him forward. Tommy whimpered but moved forward to follow Dream, scrambling basically on his hands and knees. Tommy didn’t know where Dream was taking him, but he couldn’t exactly stop him, and he didn’t quite want to. Why would he, Dream was his friend. He wouldn’t hurt him. Tommy tried his hardest to look at Dream questioningly when they stopped in front of the gate to the archery area, but Dream’s grip on his hair was too tight.

“You’ll fix it? Fine.” Dream said, “You can come back in the house when you’ve fixed it. I don’t want to see you until then.”

Dream pulled open the door and forced Tommy out. He tossed the broken bow out after him, not caring that it was nearly night time, the middle of winter, or that Tommy had no weapons or warm clothes. Then he returned to the house, slamming the door behind him. Tommy didn't know if he locked it, but he figured that it didn't matter that much. Dream wouldn't let him back inside anyway.

He slowly limped away, holding the broken bow in one hand, heading to the snowy forest biome nearby. He would be safest up in one of those trees tonight, and hopefully it would be just slightly warmer. 

Tommy was outside for a week before he managed to figure out how to fix the weapon. It was a week of freezing temperatures and dangerous mobs. He considered running time and time again, but never did it. He would never be able to find his way back to the others, and would he even be welcome there? Tubbo exiled him, the others forgot about him, and Techno’s the one who gave him to Dream in the first place.

Dream welcomed him back with open arms. He had built a roaring fire for him to sit by and made him a kettle of hot chocolate just for Tommy. He praised Tommy for his ingenuity and skills and told him that he was watching the entire time, that he just needed Tommy to learn his lesson. Tommy smiled and thanked Dream for his kindness, promising to never do that again and to be more careful with Dream’s things.

He never considered running again. Dream was his best and only friend, who always did what was best for him. He could never betray him by running away again.

~

Tommy had no idea how long it had been since Dream had brought him home, but it must have been at least 4 months.

His hair had grown out a lot. It was a little past his shoulders at this point. It was rather curly, so Dream had helped him plait it into several small braids along the front and one big one in the back. 

Dream had taught him to be proficient in every weapon he knew and even taught him a little about fighting without a weapon. Dream said he wanted Tommy to be prepared to defend himself if he ever needed to. But he knew he wouldn't need to. Dream said he'd protect him and he never left Dream's side, so there wasn't really a need to learn.

Dream had also given him several gifts! Some red hoodies to keep him warm, another blanket for his bed, his own trident, several books about various topics, and at one point an end rod, one of the most coveted items in the smp, to light up his room with. That’s how he knew it had been at least four months, because the end rod had been a gift for his birthday and it had been the end of December when Dream had brought him home. It was a useless item, something he couldn’t even show off because of where he was, but he took great joy in having it anyway.

“Toms, come here, I have something to talk with you about!” Dream shouted.

Tommy immediately sat up and ran out of his room, bounding up to Dream like a puppy with a giant smile on his face, "what's up Big D? Do you need me to help you with something?"

"It's something like that. I think it's time for us to return to the DreamSMP proper. I've got some work I need to do there, and I want your help with it."

Tommy gasped and his eyes grew large, "REALLY?! You're gonna let me come back?!"

"I am!" Dream said, Tommy's excitement catching on a bit "You've been very good recently, so I think you can come back now, as long as you keep being good and as long as you help me with my project."

"Of course I'll help you! What's the project you are gonna be working on?"

Dream chuckled, a dark gleam in his eye, though Tommy couldn't see it from behind the mask, "don't worry about it now Tommy, I'll tell you about it later. For now… I've got a gift for you."

Tommy's eyes lit up as Dream grabbed something from behind him. It was a white porcelain mask that was completely blank. Tommy took it in his hands almost reverently. He lifted it to his face, looking through it at Dream.

"We match now Dream! Look, look, we match!"

"I suppose we do! Do you want me to buckle it up for you?"

Tommy nodded rapidly and turned around, handing Dream his new mask. Dream put it on Tommy, carefully buckling it up in the back, making sure not to catch his long hair.

"There," he said, turning Tommy around, "Soon you'll figure out how to do it yourself, but for now I'll help you out with it. Now, why don't you go start packing? We'll return in a couple months, so keep that in mind. You don't need to bring everything you have."

Tommy nodded and turned around, running back to his room to pack.

~

Tommy was extremely close to bouncing on the balls of his toes. The only reason he wasn't is because Dream told him not to. But he couldn't help how excited he was. They were traveling through the nether but Dream said they were getting really close. They were gonna pop out at the community house portal and from there, drop their stuff off at the Holy Lands, where they would be staying, then go start on Dream's project.

"There's the portal Tommy. Do you remember the rules I gave you?"

"don't leave your side, don't talk to anyone without your permission, follow all of your commands, don't steal, grief, or attack anyone unless told to, and don't take off my mask."

"Good boy. Thank you for being so obedient Tommy. Now, go ahead and step through."

They stepped through the portal together and quickly made their way to the Holy Lands. Tommy basked in the glory of the Holy Lands, taking a moment to touch the altar before Dream called for him and he hurried out.

"Alright," Dream said, "First stop is the L’mamburg border. We need to let the president know that you will be walking around with me under my protection and aren't breaking your exile rules. I'll have to leave you for a moment to get them to the borders, but I trust that you can behave yourself for me."

Tommy nodded immediately. He could do that, he could be good for Dream. But what if….

"What if someone tries to talk to me? Can I respond?"

Dream hummed, thinking for a moment, "good question Tom's. You can respond if they ask what you're doing. But you can only respond to that question and you may only say "I'm waiting for Dream. He told me to wait here while he took care of some things." Can you repeat that for me?"

"I'm waiting for Dream. He told me to wait here while he took care of some things." Tommy repeated dutifully.

"Good. Alright, wait here for me. don't move." Dream said, then walked over the border into L'manburg, which was looking beautiful.

Tommy stood there in silence for several minutes, completely still, buried in his soft red hoodie, blonde braids only just barely poking out from behind his head. Dream wanted his hood up, so Tommy had started plaiting his hair into a side braid to make it more comfortable. His blank mask had been carefully washed before they left, but he had no idea if it had gotten dirty again since they left home.

Tommy was thinking so hard about his mask, he didn't notice the hybrid sneaking up behind him until they were extremely close to him. But at the last moment he heard the quiet, nearly silent padding of paws against the path and spun around quickly. There stood Fundy, who looked curious.

"Who are you? Why are you just standing here on the border?" Fundy asked but Tommy could only stay silent. He made no movement to answer, verbally or non verbally. Fundy grew a little agitated, visible in how his tail flicked back and forth and his ears flattened against his head.

"Oh c'mon man, I know you're someone I know. You smell kinda familiar. Just tell me already."

Silence rang between them and Fundy huffed, "fine if you won't tell me who you are, then what are you doing here?"

Tommy immediately relaxed a bit, finally something he could answer.

"I'm waiting for Dream. He told me to wait here while he took care of some things." He answered, almost robotically.

Fundy's ears perked up and he took an extra step closer to Tommy, "Tommy? Is that you? Is Dream letting you come back now? That's amazing, Tubbo's gonna be so excited!"

Tommy gulped, repressing his desire to ask why Tubbo would be excited at his return when it was Tubbo's fault that he had to leave. He couldn't answer until Dream returned and let him speak.

Fundy didn't seem to mind his silence that much, continuing to talk, "Tubbo said he and Ranboo saw you a little after Christmas with Techno, but since then Ranboo forgot about the encounter and nobody's seen you, so we were a little scared Tubbo hallucinated the whole thing! It wouldn't be too off brand for that to happen to Tubbo. His personalities have been making more and more appearances recently. Especially Big Law and The Lord. Occasionally Toob comes around, but not too often. The Lord has been hanging around the Church a lot, and Big Law has been holed up in his courthouse. Have you been with Dream this whole time?”

Fundy kept talking and talking, rambling on about what had happened in L’manburg since he’d gone home with Dream. Tommy couldn’t respond to any of it, but he didn't mind. He liked listening to Fundy talk. It had been a while since he'd heard him.

Suddenly he caught sight of a bright green figure drawing closer. Tommy grinned behind his mask, Dream was back! He waved at Dream, and the green figure that was slowly growing closer waved back.

"Fundy!" Dream called to his fiancé once he was within hearing range, speeding up a bit, "I was wondering where you were. I'm sorry I haven't responded to your message yet, Tommy and I have been busy travelling."

Fundy shrugged, “It’s alright, it was just a quick question about the max speed of movement for Players. Tubbo and I were trying some stuff out with the instant teleportation Ravager glitch and we think it wasn’t working because of something like that. Could you come check it out later?”

“Sure Fundy, sounds fun. Is it gonna be like the ravager glitch or an actually recreatable thing?”   
  


“Hopefully it’ll be recreatable. It’s a glitch I've seen work in other places. So why are you and Tommy back in town? You haven’t decided to revoke Tommy’s exile have you?”

Dream laughed, “hahaha no. I just had some things to do in town that couldn’t be done otherwise, and decided to bring Tommy since he’d been behaving so well. Speaking of, Tommy have you been good?”

Tommy immediately nodded, "didn't move and didn't talk past what you told me to say when Fundy asked the question. Is everything figured out now? Can we go do things?"

“Not quite, we’ve got a meeting with the president and his council in an hour, and a meeting with King Eret after that, then it’ll be figured out and we can get to working on my plans.” Dream said.

Tommy nodded then glanced over at Fundy, then back to Dream. Dream chuckled and nodded, “Go ahead Tommy, have some fun.”

Tommy grinned and turned on Fundy, “HEY FURRY BITCH! Didya miss me?!”

Fundy let out an incomprehensible shriek at that and hit Tommy. Tommy flinched but laughed it off. Fundy had nothing on Dream and Fundy didn’t even want to hurt him.

The two talked for nearly the entire hour, with Dream supervising with a small smirk on his face. Eventually though he decided it was time to go. He pulled off Tommy’s hood and grabbed him by the braid. Tommy winced a bit but followed him, leaning into Dream’s hand.

“Is it time for the meeting now?” Dream only nodded, pulling Tommy along.

The meetings went by fast, especially since King Eret came to them for their meeting, since he was already in L’Manburg visiting his adopted son Fundy. The meetings were a bit weird, especially the one with Tubbo, since Tubbo kept making sad eyes. He couldn’t help but notice Ranboo wasn’t there, but Dream hadn’t given him permission to speak up, so he didn’t. Dream also made him bow to Eret, but that didn’t bug him as much as it would’ve before Dream took him home. For some reason it seemed to bug Tubbo and the rest of his cabinet though.

Now they were back at the church prime, and Tommy was setting up a temporary bed for him and Dream.

“Tomorrow we will be going out to the edge of the world to check on a building. I’ve been having Sam build a prison at the edge of town. Eventually I'm going to put everyone of importance there, but for now we are going to only focus on one group. So I need you to make a choice for me tommy, I need you to decide who will go first.”

“Who are the options?” Tommy asked, anxiety beginning to thrum through him.

“Techno Philza and Ranboo, who are forming a sort of Neo-Antarctic Empire, or New L’manburg, Tubbo, Fundy, and Quackity.”

Tommy gulped and thought his choices over. This wasn’t to be done on a whim, he knew the importance of Dream asking him this. Dream wanted to see how tactical he could be.

“Techno probably has a storehouse of weapons and armor by this point. Giving him more time to stockpile would be bad. But in contrast, New L’manburg doesn’t allow weapons or armor, and likely has no such stockpile. Techno is their greatest enemy, and once he’s gone, they’ll likely relax. We…” he hesitated for a moment, emotional attachment making his chest feel tight, “We should go after the Antarctic Empire first.”

Dream leaned over and ruffled Tommy’s hair, smiling at him proudly, “Good boy, that’s very smart thinking. We’ll go after them tomorrow. Do you know how we should plan to attack them?”

The two discussed plans late into the night, eventually coming up with a pretty fool proof plan. They settled into bed, preparing for a long day tomorrow on little sleep.

The next day, a little after dawn, they set off for Techno’s house. Tommy felt the familiar sensations of emptiness and despair go through him as they traveled through the nether together. He had travelled a ton of the nether, memorizing every block while he was still at Logstedshire, but it had been a while since he had been back in this section since Dream brought him home. They exited the nether a bit off from Techno’s house, but quickly and quietly made their way up to the two little houses, one significantly more finished and neat than the other. Dream nodded to Tommy and he crept to the house in the mountain side, quickly placing water around it so that Ranboo would have a harder time teleporting away. Then, on Dream’s signal, he pushed open Ranboo’s door and entered his house.

“Ranboo? Ranboo where are you? It’s Tommy, please! Please I need help Ranboo where are you?” he called, forcing his voice to sound fearful. He swallowed his guilt, Ranboo wasn’t really his friend, Dream was and Dream needed him to do this.

He heard some shuffling and grabbed his arm like he was hurt, hiding the water bucket he was hiding.

“Tommy?” Ranboo called, rounding the corner.

He gasped when he saw Tommy and ran to him, arms outstretched. Tommy couldn’t help but flinch away from him, but once he was in range he leaped forward and tackled him, holding the bucket threateningly.

“Don’t scream, teleport, or fight back or this bucket is getting dumped on you. I’ve covered the outside of your house in water, the only way to get out is the front door. You’re going to come with me calmly, leaving all weapons and armor here, and we are going to go talk to Techno and Phil. Do you understand?” Tommy threatened.

The enderman hybrid nodded, eyes wide with fear as he stared up at the boy he thought was his friend. He trembled slightly underneath Tommy, but made no move to try and escape. Tommy stood up and helped Ranboo to his feet, holding onto his arm tightly. He led Ranboo outside and met up with Dream, who had stolen Techno’s two pets, his horse Carl and his enderman Edward.

Dream ruffled Tommy’s hair, “Good job Tommy. Stay here and guard them, I’ll be back in a moment with Techno and Phil.”

Tommy nodded and watched as Dream disappeared into the house. His chest felt tight when he heard Ranboo whimper beside him. He wasn’t supposed to be feeling sympathy for him but he was.

“Why are you doing this?” Ranboo asked, deep voice shaking.

“Dream is my only friend and he wants you locked away. I need to be good for him so you have to go.” Tommy said, keeping his eyes locked on the doorway.

“What about me? Aren’t I your friend? Do my visits mean nothing, does the time we spent together mean nothing?”

“Only Dream visited me. Only he cared about me. Nobody else wants to be my friend. They all abandoned me.” Tommy said, quoting the familiar words Dream had said to him so many times.

“It wasn’t just him, remember Tommy? I came. Ghostbur was with you the entire time. Tubbo tried to visit you but you weren’t there anymore. Quackity visited, Techno visited, Philza visited. He gave you those slippers, remember? Because you lost your shoes? Do you remember what I’m talking about Tommy?

Tommy began trembling. He wasn’t supposed to think about that. He was just supposed to listen to Dream. Dream was his only friend, he has to listen because Dream wouldn’t lie to him like that.

“C’mon Tommy, you aren’t forgetful like me, I know you must remember. I’ve got it written in my memory book that you’re my friend. I don’t lie in my memory books, remember? Because then I'll forget what’s real and what’s just a lie. That means you’re supposed to be my friend, which means Dream’s not your only friend.”

Tommy shook harder, covering his ears best he could with a single hand. Thankfully he was saved by the sound of the door opening again. He looked up, still clutching his head and saw Dream come out, holding Phil by axe point, with Techno following behind him, hands tied behind his back and a lead wrapped around his neck that Dream held. He let out a rattling breath and pushed the bucket of water closer to Ranboo’s head.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear another fucking word from you unless Dream tells you to speak.” he growled.

He retreated closer to Dream once he returned, drawing comfort in being close to him.

“Thank you for coming back so quickly. Ranboo was trying- he was trying to do something. He kept saying he was my friend, which isn’t true, cause you’re my only friend.” Tommy murmured, only just barely loud enough for Phil and Techno to hear.

“Tommy?” Tommy heard Phil say.

Dream turned his head toward Phil and smirked at him, then smiled back down at Tommy, “Yes, my Tommy. You’ve done very good today. Just remember, I'm your only friend, I'm the only one who cares about you. Everyone else gave you up and abandoned you.”

Tommy relaxed immediately, even as Phil let out a horrified noise, “Yeah, you’re my only friend, thank you Dream.”

“What did you do to him?! What did you do to my son?!?” Phil said angrily, struggling slightly against Dream.

“I didn’t do a thing Philza. Didn’t your darling Technoblade tell you? He gave me Tommy to repay a favor, even offered him up to me first. I wasn’t going to take him originally, but he offered and so I decided to take him up on it. He’s been staying at my house since then and he’s been a very good boy for me. Very obedient.”

Tommy frowned and shivered at the memory. He had been so scared when Techno gave him up, at the time he had no idea how good being with Dream would be. Phil looked back at Techno, but Techno only looked away, slightly guiltily.

“You motherfucker-!” Phil growled, trying to wrench himself out of Dream’s grip.

Dream frowned and held Phil tighter, “Don’t try old man. Your sweet little son is half enderman and Tommy has a very full bucket of water ready to spill on him. So I suggest you take a page out of Tommy’s book and be good.”

Tommy held the bucket of water threateningly, blank mask creating a more threatening picture than his true face ever could. Phil stilled at the quiet whimper Ranboo made when a little of the water splashed over onto him. A look of grief overtook his features as he realized that he could do nothing.

“Alright Tommy, I think it’s time to go. I’ve had my fun with them so it’s time to bring them to their new home.” Dream said, “Tommy, go ahead and lead the way for us. Why don’t you tell our friends about what you’ve been doing since Techno handed you over.”

Tommy nodded happily and began walking back to the nether portal, quite happy to have someone new to talk to. He told them about what Dream had been teaching him, the gifts Dream gave him, and some punishments Dream had given him for making stupid mistakes. He didn’t notice how every story he told seemed to drain the hope out of his old friends.

When finally they arrived at the prison, Sam was already there waiting. Dream greeted him with a nod and quickly hushed Tommy. Tommy obediently stopped speaking, watching calmly as Sam put the people who had once been his friends behind bars, which is where they would remain forever.

“Tommy please. You’re my son, don’t do this, I know you must still be in there somewhere.” Phil pleaded, one last desperate attempt to get any sort of reaction out of Tommy.

Tommy only regarded Phil with confusion, “Why are you fighting so much? Dream wants this to happen, don’t you trust him? Are you worried you’ll get lonely? Is that why you’re fighting now? Don’t worry, Tubbo, Quackity, and Fundy will join you soon. And maybe one day Dream will decide you’ve been good enough to let out! You’ve just got to be good Dadza.”

“No Tommy that’s not-” Phil tried to protest.

Dream smiled and ruffled Tommy’s hair, interrupting Phil, “I don’t think he’s ready to listen yet Toms. C’mon, let's go back to the surface. Maybe by the time we bring the others here he’ll be more open to listening to you.”

Tommy leaned against Dream, happily following him out of the prison, leaving behind his first family.


	2. we are your friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a collection of different point of views covering everything that comes next. no beta, so sorry for any shitty writing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ask and you shall receive

Sam did not like this at all.

Warning flags had gone off when Dream had contracted him to build an inescapable prison, but he’d ignored them. He was Dream’s admin and Dream was one of his oldest friends. Surely his old friend wouldn’t do anything too heinous.

But when Dream had come to him, with Techno on a lead, Phil held at axe point, and a far too skinny figure in a blank mask, holding Ranboo and a bucket of water, following him, he knew something was wrong.

When Dream made a gesture at the figure and they spoke with Tommy’s voice, he knew his trust in Dream was misplaced.

He saw Dream and Tommy out of the prison, then returned to the surveillance room. He watched Dream and Tommy disappear on the outside camera, and watched the small family fall apart in their cell on the inside camera.

He shivered, resolving to look into the situation immediately and get the Badlands involved if things were too bad.

~

Phil wasn’t looking at him.

It had been several days since Dream and ~~_his brother_~~ Tommy had locked them up in the prison, and Phil still wouldn’t look at him.

Phil, his best friend, his partner in everything. The man who had practically raised him, despite not being that much older than him. It hurt more than Techno cared to admit to have Phil ignoring him.

Phil had spoken to Ranboo, comforting him with soft reassuring words and gentle touches, so he wasn’t just closing himself off. Phil was specifically ignoring him.

And Techno had been doing it right back, until Ranboo had looked at him with wide eyes, then glanced at Phil, trying to motions for them to talk.

“I’m sorry…” He murmured, not looking up at Phil. He couldn’t handle the full force of Philza’s disappointed gaze

Philza was silent for a moment, before speaking, his response just a single word, “Why?”

Techno kept his head down, not daring to meet that gaze. He gulped and opened his mouth to respond but all that came out was another apology, “I’m sorry.”

Philza sighed and took a step towards Techno, forcing him to lift his head, “I’m not the one you need to apologize to. I didn’t ask for your apologies, I asked you why? Why did you give your brother to Dream?”

Techno stayed silent for a moment then responded, “It wasn’t this bad. He- he just showed up at my base one day. I came back after the botched execution and he was messing around in my living room. He had no visible injuries and he was laughing and joking like normal. It was like he’d never been exiled at all. He never talked about his time in exile, and never spoke a bad word about Dream. I…”

Techno ducked his head, clutching his chest, “I owed Dream a favor. A big one. He could’ve asked me for anything, and I would've had to comply. I thought… I threw it out there as a joke, because surely he wouldn’t waste a favor on something as stupid as getting Tommy back. And even when he did… Tommy didn’t fight back. He just followed Dream through the portal and disappeared. I thought Dream was just taking him back to Logstedshire, that Tommy would run away again in a couple weeks. I...”

Techno sniffed and he realized he was close to crying, “I didn’t learn until after that there was nothing left of Logstedshire, that Tommy had nearly killed himself there. I tried to search for them Phil, I swear I did, you saw me looking, but they were gone. There was no trace of them.”

Phil sighed and sat a hand on Techno’s head, pushing his face up to look at him, “shh, you’re okay. You didn’t know, you couldn’t have known this would happen. 

“I’m sorry.” Techno murmured, eyes shining with unshed tears in a way that gave Phil flashbacks to when they were younger and Techno still struggling against his blood lust, “I’m so sorry.”

Phil pulled Techno properly into his arms, hugging him tightly, “I know, I know. We’ll escape and rescue Tommy and then you can apologize to him.”

~

Bad was ready to get back to chaos.

The badlands had been battling against the call of the egg for 6 months. It had been finally destroyed last month, Sam and Puffy having finally rescued him, Skeppy, and Ant. The last month had been full of apologies and too much bed rest.

Bad was ready to get out there, back into his personal projects and pretty feuds, and he knew the others felt the same. Even if they weren't quite at 100% just yet.

That's why he was secretly relieved when Sam stumbled back into their base looking extremely pale but ready to fight someone.

"What's wrong Sam?" Puffy asked.

"What's the ally rating between Tommy and the Neo-Antarctic Empire?"

There was silence for a moment before Ant answered, "upon last available info, which is over 6 months old, Tommy and Techno were allies though only of necessity, both still holding a grudge for actions during the battle of Manburg, Ranboo and Tommy appeared to be decent friends, ranboo supposedly having visited Tommy several times throughout his exile in Logstedshire, and Tommy and Phil are neutral, no immediate aggression but no clear allyship."

Sam groaned something Bad couldn't make out and collapsed at the table, accidentally knocking off his crown, "Do you guys want to kill a god and adopt a child?" 

Bad blinked, mind desperately trying to process Sam's proposal. He was about to voice his confusion when someone beat him to it.

"What the hell happened while you were out?" Skeppy asked, sounding intrigued by the idea.

"Tommy's back. With Dream. Today he helped Dream put Ranboo, Techno, and Phil in my prison. Willingly it seems. He was wearing a mask like Dream's, but totally blank. I only recognized him because of his voice." Sam's voice was shaky, "he didn't speak until Dream told him he could. He only moved when Dream directed him. He showed no regret at putting his family in jail, and was holding a water bucket against Ranboo's bare skin."

"Holy shit." Puffy murmured, and Bad couldn't even language her for it because he was close to saying it himself.

Dream was his friend. Not as trusted as Skeppy, but close. They had been friends for years, and at one point Bad would have trusted Dream to always have his Player's best interests in mind. But now…

"I've been meaning to extend the house to include another bedroom. Do you think Tommy would prefer a red bed or a blue bed?" Bad asked, already drawing up plans in his head.

Sam looked up, surprised that someone had agreed with him so quickly. Bad looked away, a little embarrassed.

"Look he might be a dirty swearing muffin head, but that doesn't mean I don't like him. And that definitely doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a good home. Sam I know your dad instincts must be going crazy over him, so why not rescue him from Dream and let him stay here?"

Skeppy giggled, "You don't need to justify wanting to take him in bad. don't worry, we'll help you get the little bitch boy."

"Language Sgeppy!"

~

Tommy had no clue what was happening.

He was pretty sure he and Dream were supposed to have gone home already. After all, they'd done the thing they came here to do, the Neo-Antarctic Empire was imprisoned and New L'manburg had relaxed so that next time he and Dream came by they imprison them as well.

But it had been several weeks, and they still hadn't left.

Instead they had been staying in the Church of Prime. The first day after the Neo-Antarctic Empire had been imprisoned, Dream had a meeting with Sam that he wasn't allowed to listen to. Since then, every day Dream brought him to the Badlands and left him with them.

He knew Dream was renting him out to the Badlands. He didn't care, Dream was his friend and if Dream wanted him to work for someone else he would gladly do it.

What he didn't understand was why. Why the hel- heck ~~_(he wasn't allowed to swear, he had to do good for Dream and Bad didn't like the swearing so he couldn't swear)_~~ were the Badlands asking for him so much?

Sam said he needed his help with his latest build, a hotel. Except, Sam didn't let him do any of the building. Instead he sent him and one of the other members, usually Puffy, out to collect random materials for the hotel, or to do other random tasks, like picking up around the build site. And they were always trying to get him to talk to him about things, what he liked to do, what things he enjoyed, it was confusing.

What was even more confusing was Sam's newest bit. He had let it slip that he really liked animal crossing and that Tom Nook was one of his favorite NPC's, and the next day "Sam Nook" was waiting for him at the build site.

"HELLO TOMMYINNIT! I AM SAM NOOK AND I SHALL BE OVERSEEING THIS BUILD SITE FROM NOW ON." Sam said through his communicator, making the familiar sounds of Tom Nook.

Tommy didn't know how long Sam had spent tinkering with his mask to make it sound like that. It obviously couldn't have been that long, after all, why would anyone spend that much time on him? But it still made him feel happy to know that Sam had put in effort to do something he'd like.

“Hello Mr. Sam Nook! What can I do for you today?”

“I’M AFRAID WE ARE RUNNING LOW ON RED CONCRETE. I NEED YOU TO COLLECT THREE STACKS OF RED DIE, AND SIX STACKS EACH OF SAND AND GRAVEL. RETURN TO ME WITH THE MATERIAL ONCE YOU ARE DONE.”

Tommy nodded, arms waving and flapping a bit by his sides, then ran off, far more excited than normal to go collect those grindy materials. He didn’t notice Sam’s proud grin behind his back, or the several other badlands members watching from the shadows of the build site.

~

Puffy loved her friends, she really did.

But she would be the first to admit that Warden Sam terrified her.

Her careful and loving gentle giant friend became silent and menacing, using his height to its full menacing potential. But she knew better than to be scared of Sam, this was just how he had to act while in the prison as its warden.

“Keep walking once the lava retracts. Shout for me when you are ready to return. Don’t forget to tell them what we talked about.” Sam said.

Puffy nodded and wrapped her arms around him, before turning back to the lava doorway, “don’t worry, I won’t forget. I’ll be back soon, then we can go back home.”

The lava retracted and Puffy hurried through to the only prisoners currently being held in the prison.

Phil, Ranboo, and Techno all looked up, Techno immediately moved in front of the others, and Phil flared his wings to hide Ranboo from sight.

Puffy held up her hands as a sign of surrender, “calm down, calm down. I’m not going to hurt any of you. I’m here on behalf of the Badlands. We need your help. You might have noticed already, but somethings really wrong with Tommy and it’s Dream’s fault.”

Ranboo peaked out from behind Philza, “You guys saw it too? I tried to tell them that Tommy wasn’t acting like Tommy but they didn’t believe me.”

“Yeah we saw it, and we are trying our hardest to get him away from Dream. We’ve currently got a deal with Dream, so that Tommy works for us during the day, but he has to return to Dream at night. We are trying to get him to trust us so that we can get him away, but i don’t know how soon that will be possible. You will be released from the prison as soon as we can guarantee Tommy's safety.”

“How can we know that we can trust you?” Techno growled.

Puffy glared at him, “You can’t. But we are Tommy’s best bet at escaping Dream, and his best bet at staying away from him forever so you don't have a choice.”

Phil’s gaze narrowed, “Are you intending to keep _my son_ permanently, even after we are released?”

“You’ve already proved yourself untrustworthy with Tommy's safety, having handed him over to Dream _twice_." Puffy growled, "With that track record why would we even consider you a choice? Why would we give him back when we've got a spare room and five capable adults willing to stay with him for as long as he wants and needs us?"

Puffy looked up at this group, these gods among men, and snarled. She snarled with the rage of a mother scorned, not carrying that they towered over her. She had mediated arguments angrier than them, had fought against a force more powerful than them, they couldn't scare her after that.

"Tommy is our kid. You might be his father, but we will be his family. Maybe if he wants you to, we'll let you visit him and you can try to be his family again. don't count on it soon though.” Puffy turned and walked away to where the lava was beginning to retract, "Sam will be watching as always. I'll see you again when Dream is incapacitated and Tommy is safe."

She left the cell, feeling very proud of herself for not attempting to attack Techno or Phil. 

~

Tubbo awoke to the bang of an axe against wood and shouts.

Now this wasn’t totally uncommon in New L’Manburg, or in the SMP as a whole. People fought a lot here, even at stupid hours of the night. It happened far more often than he liked, and while he’d tried to stop it at first, he’d mostly given up now. So he was gonna just go back to bed. But then he heard shouts calling his name and some pounding at his door.

Tubbo groggily sat up, forcing himself out of bed and to the window of his house, hoping to just get a glimpse of whatever was happening outside.

Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t this mess.

The entire Badlands was surrounding Dream, who was holding Quackity at axe point. Quackity was obviously struggling, and Fundy was knocking frantically at his door, holding Tommy’s ~~_(Tommy who said he wasn’t his friend, who had willingly gone with Dream and came back different, quiet and obedient, a carbon copy of the monster he once fought against. Tommy who refused to speak to Tubbo now, who no longer held his compass, who no longer cared)_~~ hand. Tommy was practical cowering, and looking back at the group.

“What is happening here?” Tubbo murmured to himself, hurrying to the door, grabbing his sword and chestplate on the way there.

By the time he got outside, Quackity had been released, which was a relief, but not enough of a relief to curb his mounting panic. The Badlands were fighting Dream, then they had him kneeling on the ground with a sword to his throat. They were looking at Tommy and their mouths wee moving but he couldn’t hear them.

The weight of someone’s hand on his shoulder made him look up. Fundy was standing beside him and he put a hand on Tubbo’s chest.

“Don’t forget to breathe Mr. President. Tommy wants Dream spared, won’t let anyone kill him. So we’re taking him to the prison. Are you gonna be up for that?”

Tubbo took a deep breath, looking over the group, “I… no probably not. But… I gotta thank them.”

Fundy looked down at Tubbo, who was barely breathing and obviously overwhelmed by it all.

He sighed and pulled Tubbo back into his house, “You know where the Badlands are, you can thank them later. Let's get you back in bed, I'm sure Quackity can handle this.”

~

Dream was used to being in control. This was his world, inhabited by his little puppets. Why wouldn’t he be in control?

Dream did not feel vey in control right now.

It was supposed to be a simple night. They were going to capture and take the New L’Manburg government to the prison. It was a simple plan, Tommy grabs Fundy, he grabs Quackity and Tubbo would come willingly to spare the lives of his friends.

It had been immediately complicated by the presence of the Badlands.

Those stupid idiots were always ruining his plans. He should have suspected they would try something. They were getting too attached to Tommy to not try something.

They had shown up right as he was breaking down Tubbo’s door, inspiring Quackity and Fundy to fight back, and waking Tubbo up before the planned time. They had overwhelmed him with sheer numbers.

And the worst part of it all? Tommy hadn’t fought for him. Six months of manipulation and conditioning down the drain. For what? A couple weeks of spending the day with them? How fucking stupid.

At least Tommy had convinced them not to kill him.

Dream carefully tapped at the obsidian walls of his prison. He’d escape sooner or later. Then he could beat that stupid piece rebellion out of Tommy. He smirked behind his mask, it was only a matter of time after all. Only a matter of time and then he’d be back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay i know the ending is really ominous, but that boy is not going anywhere. he's fully trapped and the entire Badlands is going to bash in the head of anyone who even considers releasing him  
> also, i know a lot of you were asking for techno to get beat, and here is my reason for not letting that happen: my friend and i were both a little unsettle by, in canon, how good tommy was at hiding the trauma from spending several weeks at Dream's mercy (this is just Tommy not wanting to portray that, but i like to read into things, so to me C!tommy is just really good at hiding his trauma). C!Tommy basically didn't talk about what Dream did until the prison. as far as anyone could tell, nothing was wrong, and his new exile was no worse than his exile to pogtopia. Why wouldn't techno hand Tommy over, when Tommy was just going back to Logstedshire and was gonna escape in a couple more weeks? As far as Techno could tell, there were much worse things Dream could ask for.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my beta even though she probably won't find this. she did a lot for this including making a lot of different choices without any context of what she was doing. love her for that <3
> 
> i am definitely not back on schedule, but i'm close to it. maybe expect an update to the multichapter soon? that or another oneshot for the eret&fundy&niki fandom (I'm still salty about no adoption and i shall write out my sorrows about it)


End file.
